Cabinet structure and method of assembly



51m@ w57 R. A. MITciHELx. ETAL 3,326,M9

CABINET STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLY Filed Oct. 23, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l 4g l0/9 J June 20, 1967 R. A. MITCHELL ETAL 3,326,149

CABINET STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLY Filed Oct. 25, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent Oliice 3,326,149 Patented June 20, 1967 3,326,149 CABINET STRUCTURE AND METHD F ASSEMBLY Richard A. Mitchell, 963 E. Dalton, Glendora, Calif.

91740, and Leonard B. Dougherty, 13554 E. Corak St.,

Baldwin Fark, Caiif. 91706 Filed ct. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 502,903 11 Claims. (Cl. 108--111) This invention relates generally to improvements in shelving; more particularly, the invention relates to novel shelving whose components may be prefabricated at the factory and subsequently assembled at the job site.

The ever increasing population has created a demand for more eicient, rapid, and economical methods and means for constructing building structures of all types, particularly residential, industrial, and commercial buildings. Many, if not most, of these building structures require shelving for one purpose or another. In the case of residential structures, for example, the shelving is embodied in kitchen cabinets, linen cabinets, and storage cabinets for other purposes. In the early days of building construction, such shelving was generally custom fabricated at the job site. Recently, however, the trend has been toward prefabricated shelving which is assembled at the factory and then shipped in this assembled condition to the job site.

These methods of fabrication are ill-suited to present day building construction needs. Custom fabrication lof shelving at the job site, for example, while still practiced in many instances, is slow and costly. Prefabrication and assembly of shelving at the factory, on the other hand,

while more rapid and economical, is not completely satisfied for the reason that shipment of the bulky, prefabricated assemblies to the job site is complicated and seriously limits the number of assemblies which may be shipped in each transport vehicle. Moreover, installation of the prefabricated assemblies at the job site is ditlicult and time consuming, owing primarily to the dfliculty of maneuvering the assemblies in the confined spaces in which these assemblies are generally installed. In addition, the prefabricated assemblies may not always properly fit the available space in which they yare to be installed.

It is a general object of this invention to provide novel shelving which avoids the above noted and other deiiciencies of the existing shelving.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide shelving whose components may be prefabricated at the factory and subsequently quickly and easily assembled at the job site, thereby Iavoiding the problems associated with both the existing custom fabricating and prefabricating methods of shelving construction.

A highly important object of the invention is to provide prefabricated shelving embodying novel means for securing the shelves to the upright end members, or stiles, of the shelving.

A further object is to provide prefabricated shelving which may be constructed of low cost materials by simple, low cost fabrication techniques.

A still further object of the invention is to provide prefabricated shelving which may be constructed in separate units of any desired size, capable of installation in a variety of arrangements and are suitable to many if not all building structures, particularly family dwellings.

A further object of the invention is to provide prefabricated shelving which can be simply and economically covered with various exterior nishes matching or complementing any room decor, thereby to provide a completed shelving structure of particularly pleasing appearance.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention Will become apparent to those versed in the art from a consideration of the following description, the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, where- 1n:

FIGURE l is a front elevation of a typical shelving structure yaccording to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an exploded perspective View of one of the shelving units embodied in the shelving structure of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged section taken on line 3-3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 illustrates an initial step in the assembly of prefabricated shelving yaccording to the invention;

FIGURE 4a is an enlargement of the area encircled by the arrow 4a-4a in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 5 illustrates a final step in the assembly of the shelving;

FIGURE 5a is an enlargement of the area encircled by the arrow 5a-5a in FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating a modified end member or panel for the present prefabricated shelving;

FIGURE 7 illustrates an initial step in the assembly of shelving embodying the end panel configuration of FIG- URE 6; and

FIGURE 8 illustrates the shelf and end panel in FIG- URE 7 in their final positions of assembly.

The prefabricated shelving 10 of the invention which has been selected for illustration in these drawings comprises a number of shelving units 12 disposed in side by side relation so as to form ya completed shelving structure. Each shelving unit 12 has a pair of upright end members 14, or stiles as they are commonly called, and a number of horizontal shelves 16 extending between and joined to the end members. One of the unique and highly important features of the invention resides in the means 18 for mounting at least the upper shelves 16 on the end members 14. Thus, yaccording to this feature of the invention, the shelf mounting means comprises mounting tongues 20 on the ends of each shelf 16. These tongues project beyond the end edges or faces 22 of the shelves. Each tongue has aligned grooves 24 in its normally upper and lower sides which parallel the end edges of the shelf. Each groove is bounded along its inner side by an inner wall 26 disposed substantially in the plane of the adjacent end edge 22 of the respective shelf. The length of the mounting tongues 20, measured parallel to the end edges 22 of their respective shelves, is substantially less than the width of the shelves. Accordingly, the end edges of the shelves are exposed at opposite ends of the tongues. The tongues are centered endwise between the side edges of the shelves, as shown. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention under discussion, the shelves 16 have substantially the same width as the upright side members 14.

At this point, it is evident that each shelf tongue 20 has a given thickness dimension a at its respective grooves 24, as measured between the bottom walls of these grooves, and a greater thickness dimension b outboard of its grooves, as measured between the upper and lower faces of the tongue. In the ensuing description, the dimension a of each mounting tongue is referred to as its inb-oard thickness dimension and the dimension b is referred to as its outboard thickness dimension.

The shelves 16 are typically constructed of wood to integrally form thereon the mounting tongues 20. If desired, the normally upper surface of each shelf may be covered with a facing sheet 28 of formica or the like. The side members 14 comprise upright side panels constructed of a relatively thin material which possesses at least a degree of resilient flexibility. These side panels may be constructed of berboard, for example. Extending through the side panels 14 are a number of normally horizontal, vertically spaced slots 30 for receiving the mounting tongues on the upper shelves 16 of each shelving unit 12. The lower ends of the side panels are notched at 32 to receive the mounting tongues 20 on the lower shelf 16 of each unit.

Each side panel 14 has laterally resilient tongue or fiat-like elements 34 with free end edges 36 which bound and define longitudinal sides of the panel slots 30, respectively. These resilient elements are normally disposed in the plane of the respective side panel. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention under discussion, the resilient elements 34 are defined by pairs of longitudinal slits 33 in each side panel 14 which open to the ends of the slots 30, respectively. For reasons to appear presently, the free edge 36 of each resilient element 34 and the opposite longitudinal side edge of the adjacent panel slot 3() are preferably disposed in generally parallel planes inclined at about a 45 degree angle to the side faces of the respective side panel 14, as shown. The width of each panel slot 30, measured between its edges 36 and 40 in the plane of the respective side panel 14, is at least substantially equal to the inboard thickness dimension a but less than the outboard thickness dimension b of its respective shelf tongue 20. In the drawings, the slot width is substantially equal to the inboard tongue thickness a.

Each shelving unit 12 is assembled by first arranging its side panels 14 in mutually inverted positions. In other words, one side panel (i.e., panel A in FIGURE 4) is placed in such a way that the respective panel slits 38 extend from their adjacent panel slots toward the normally upper end of the panel. The other side panel (panel B in FIGURE 4) is inverted so that the panel slits 38 extend from their adjacent panel slots 30 toward the normally lower end of the panel. Also, side panel A is so disposed that the edges 36, 40 of its slots 30 slope in the direction of the upper end of the panel as these edges approach the normal inner face of Vthe panel. The other side panel B is disposed so that its slot edges 36, 40 slope in the direction of the lower end of the panel as these edges approach the inner face of the panel. Initially, the two side panels are disposed in longitudinally offset relation, as shown in FIGURE 4, wherein it will be observed that side panel A is longitudinally offset in the upward direction relative to side panel B.

In the second step of assembling each shelving unit 12, the resilient flat-like elements 34 of each side panel 14 are pressed or deflected inwardly to effectively enlarge the panel slots 30 sufficiently to receive the relatively thick outboard ends of the shelve mounting tongues 20, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 4a. The tongues are then inserted into their respective slots to positions wherein the fixed slot edges 40 enter the adjacent tongue grooves 24.

In the final step of assembling each shelving unit 12, the side panels A and B are relatively shifted in the endwise direction into lateral alignment, as shown in FIG- URE 5, thereby to rotate the shelves 16 into their normal perpendicular relation relative to the side panels. During this step, the free edges 36 of the resilient panel elements 34 enter the adjacent tongue grooves 24 and the elements return to their normal coplanar relation with their respective side panels 14. In the final position of assembly of the end panels and shelves, therefore, the shelves are firmly attached to and extend normal -to the side panels.

After assembly of each shelving unit 12 in the manner described above, the unit is finished for installation. This finishing of each unit may involve various finishing steps, depending upon the manner and space in which the unit is to be installed. In a typical shelving installation according to the invention, however, finishing of the assembled unit for installation involves the attachment of flat upright spacing members or bars 42 and fiat hori- Zontal cross members or bars `44 to the unit. The upright spacing members 42 seat against the outer surfaces of the side panels 14, substantially fiush with the front and rear vertical edges thereof, and are secured by nails or screws 46 to the panel shelves 16, as shown. The upper ends of these spacing members terminate short of the upper ends of the side panels 14. The thickness dimension of the spacing members 42 is equal to or greater than the distance which the shelf mounting tongues 20 project Ybeyond the outer surfaces of the side panels 14. In a typical shelving unit according to the invention, the spacing members 42 comprise one by three or one by four timber members.

The cross members 44 extend across the top of each shelving unit 12 and are notched at 48 to receive the upper edges of the side panels 14 of the respective unit. The ends of these cross members are nailed or otherwise fastened to the upper ends of the spacing members 42, to complete a shelving unit 12.

The completed shelving structure 10 is fabricated by placing a number of the shelving units along side by side with their spacing members 42 in abutment. The exposed surfaces of the structure may be covered with any desired facing material or may be otherwise finished to match or complement the particular room decor. It is evident, of course, that the shelving units 12 may be constructed in various sizes and may be assembled in various arrangements, depending upon the size and shape of the available space in which the units are to be installed.

Reference is now made to FIGURES 6 through 8 which illustrate modified side panels 14a according to the invention. Side panels 14a are identical to the side panels 14, described earlier, except that the panels 14a have slits 38a extending in both longitudinal directions from each panel slot 30a. Accordingly, each slot 30a is bounded along both of its upper and lower longitudinal sides by the free edges 36a of the laterally resilient flat-like elements defined by the slits 38a. In this case, the side panels 14a and shelves 16a are assembled by simply forcing the shelf tongues 20a edgewise through the panels slots 30a, along direction lines normal to the respective panel 14a, as illustrated in FIGURE 7.

In the case of the end panel configuration illustrated in FIGURES l through 5, the longitudinal sides edges 36, 40 of the panel slots 30 must be beveled, as shown, to permit these edges to enter the tongue grooves 24, when the tongues are forced at antangle through these slots, as illustrated in FIGURE 4a. In the case of the end panel configuration of FIGURES 6 through 8, on the other hand, the longtiudinal side edges of the panel slots need not be beveled since the the shelf mounting tongues enter the slots along direction lines normal to the side panels.

It is now evident, therefore, that the invention herein described and illustrated is fully capable of attaining the several objects and advantages preliminarily set forth.

Although a specific embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described herein, it will be understood that the same is merely exemplary of pres ently preferred embodiments capable of attaining the ob jects and advantages hereinbefore mentioned, and that the invention is not limited thereto; variations will be readily apparent to those versed in the art, and the invention is entitled to the broadest interpretation within the terms of the appended claims.

The inventors claim:

1. Prefabricated shelving comprising:

' a pair of normally upright side panels,

a number of normally horizontal shelves having end edges and mounting tongues projecting from said end edges, respectively,

each mounting tongue having normally upper and lower sides and a groove in one of said sides extending parallel to the adjacent end edge of the respective shelf,

each tongue groove having a width at least substantally equal to the thickness of a side panel and being bounded along its inner side by a wall disposed approximately in the plane of the adjacent end edge of the respective shelf, whereby each tongue has a given thicknessdimension at its respective groove and a greater thickness dimension outboard of its respective groove,

said side panels having slots extending transverse to the length thereof for receiving said mounting tongues, respectively,

the width of each slotbeing at least substantially equal to said given thickness dimension and less than said outboard thickness dimension of its respective mounting tongue, and

each side panel including laterally resilient elements normally disposed in the plane of the respective panel and having free end edges bounding the respective panel slots along at least one longitudinal side of each slot, whereby said resilient elements may be laterally deflected from the plane of their respective side panel to accommodate insertion of said mounting tongues into said slots and relative movement of said side panels and shelves to final positions of assembly wherein one longitudinal side edge of each slot engages in the groove of the ad- .jacent mounting tongue and said resilient elements are disposed in the plane of their respective side panel.

2. Prefabricated shelving according to claim 1, wherein:

said resilient elements are dened by longitudinal slitS in said side panels and opening to the respective panel slots.

3. Prefabricated shelving according to claim 1, wherein:

each said mounting tongue has a groove in its opposite side aligned with its respective rst mentioned groove, and said grooves in each mounting tongue receive the opposing longitudinal .side edges of the respective panel slot in said final position of assembly of said shelves and side panels.

4. Prefabricated shelving according7 to claim 1 wherein:

each panel slot is bounded along each longitudinal side by the free end edge of one of said resilient elements.

5. Prefabricated shelving according to claim 1 wherein:

-said slits in said side panels extend to only one side of their respective panel slots, and

said slits in one of said side panels are disposed above their respective panel slots and the slits in the other side panel are disposed below their respective panel slots.

6. Prefabricated shelving, comprising:

a pair of relatively thin, normally upright side panels constructed of a material possessing a degree of elastic exibility,

a n-umber of normally horizontal shelves having end edges and mounting tongues projecting from said end edges, respectively,

each mounting tongue having normally upper and lower sides and a groove in one of said sides extending parallel to the adjacent end edge of the respective shelf,

each tongue groove having a width at least substantially equal to the thickness of a side panel and being bounded along its inner side by a wall disposed approximately in the plane of the adjacent end edge of the respective shelf, whereby each tongue has a given thickness dimension at its respective groove and a greater thickness dimension outboard of its respective groove,

said side panels lhaving slots extending transverse to the length thereof for receiving said mounting tongues, respectively,

the width of each panel slot being at least substantially equal to said given thickness dimension and less than said outboard thickness dimension of its respective mounting tongue, and

each of said side panels also havin-g slits opening to the ends of the slots in the respective panel and defining resiliently exible flap-like elements bordering the slots, which elements may be laterally deflected from the plane of the respective side panel to accommodate insertionof said mounting tongues into said slots and relative movement of said side panels and shelves to nal positions of assembly wherein at least one longitudinal side edge of each panel slot engages in a groove in the adjacent mounting tongue and said resilient elements are disposed in the plane of their respective side panel.

7. Prefabricated shelving according to claim 6 wherein:

each side panel has a single pair of slits only opening to each slot in the respective panel, thereby ,to dene a resilient flat-like element at one side only of each slot, and the confronting longitudinal side edges of each panel slot are disposed in substantially parallel planes inclined at an ac-ute angle relative to the side faces of the respective panel.

8. Prefabricated shelving according to claim 6 wherein:

each side panel has two pair of said slits opening to and located at opposite sides of each slot in the respective panel, thereby to dene a resilient flatlike element at each side of each slot.

9. Means for securing a lirst generally planar member to a second generally planar member extending transversely of and having an edge presented toward said first member, said means comprising:

a mounting tongue projecting from said edge of said second mem'ber,

said tongue having opposite sides and a groove in one side,

said groove having a width at least substantially equal to the thickness of said first member and being bounded along its inner side by a side wall disposed substantially in the plane of said edge,

said tongue having a given thickness dimension at said groove and a greater thickness dimension outboard of said groove,

said rst member having a slot for receiving said tongue,

said slot having a width at least substantially eq-ual to said given thickness dimension and less than said outboard thickness dimension of said tongue, and

said first member having a pair of slits at one side of and opening to said slot to define at one side of said slot a resiliently flexible flat-like element which is normally disposed in the plane of said rst member and which may be deflected laterally from the latter plane to accommodate insertion of said tongue into said slot to a .position wherein one longitudinal side edge of said slot engages in said tongue groove.

10. The combination according to claim 9 wherein:

said irst member has a second pair of slits at the opposite side of and opening to said slot to dene at said opposite side of said slot a second resiliently flexible flat-like element, and

the outboard end of said mounting tongue Ibeing adapted to be urged against the adjacent ends of said elements for deflecting the latter laterally from the plane of said first member, thereby to accommodate insertion of said tongue into said slot.

11. Shelving comprising:

a pair of parallel upright side panels having aligned horizontal, vertically spaced slots,

horizontal shelves extending between said panels and having projecting tongues at their ends enga-ging in said aligned slots, respectively,

upright members extending lengthwise of and secured to the outer surfaces of said side panels adjacent the vertical edges thereof and terminating in spaced relation to the upper edges of said side panels,

upper horizontal cross members extending across the tops of said side panels in line with said upright members, respectively,

said cross members being slotted to receive the upper 7 edges of said side panels and seating at their ends against the upper ends of said upright members, fastening means securing said cross members to the upper ends of said upright members, and fastening means securing said upright members to at least one of said shelves.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 861,911 7/1907 Stewart 211-148 965,177 7/1910 Glafcke 312-265 1,013,172 1/1912 Jones 10S-111 8 Battles 46--30 Tinnerman 248-361 Rosenthal 108-111 Gass 211-148 Dutmers 312-265 Mitchell 211-148 Moore 108-110 FOREIGN PATENTS 9/1955 France.

DAVID I. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner.

FRANCIS K. ZUGEL, Examiner. 

1. PREFABRICATED SHELVING COMPRISING: A PAIR OF NORMALLY UPRIGHT SIDE PANELS, A NUMBER OF NORMALLY HORIZONTAL SHELVES HAVING END EDGES AND MOUNTING TONGUES PROJECTING FROM SAID END EDGES, RESPECTIVELY, EACH MOUNTING TONGUE HAVING NORMALLY UPPER AND LOWER SIDES AND A GROOVE IN ONE OF SAID SIDES EXTENDING PARALLEL TO THE ADJACENT END EDGE OF THE RESPECTIVE SHELF, EACH TONGUE GROOVE HAVING A WIDTH AT LEAST SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE THICKNESS OF A SIDE PANEL AND BEING BOUNDED ALONG ITS INNER SIDE BY A WALL DISPOSED APPROXIMATELY IN THE PLANE OF THE ADJACENT END EDGE OF THE RESPECTIVE SHELF, WHEREBY EACH TONGUE HAS A GIVEN THICKNESS DIMENSION AT ITS RESPECTIVE GROOVE AND A GREATER THICKNESS DIMENSION OUTBOARD OF ITS RESPECTIVE GROOVE, SAID SIDE PANELS HAVING SLOTS EXTENDING TRANSVERSE TO THE LENGTH THEREOF FOR RECEIVING SAID MOUNTING TONGUES, RESPECTIVELY, THE WIDTH OF EACH SLOT BEING AT LEAST SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO SAID GIVEN THICKNESS DIMENSION AND LESS THAN SAID OUTBOARD THICKNESS DIMENSION OF ITS RESPECTIVE MOUNTING TONGUE, AND EACH SIDE PANEL INCLUDING LATERALLY RESILIENT ELEMENTS NORMALLY DISPOSED IN THE PLANE OF THE RESPECTIVE PANEL AND HAVING FREE END EDGES BOUNDING THE RESPECTIVE PANEL SLOTS ALONG AT LEAST ONE LONGITUDINAL SIDE OF EACH SLOT, WHEREBY SAID RESILIENT ELEMENTS MAY BE LATERALLY DEFLECTED FROM THE PLANE OF THEIR RESPECTIVE SIDE PANEL TO ACCOMODATE INSERTION OF SAID MOUNTING TONGUES INTO SAID SLOTS AND RELATIVE MOVEMENT OF SAID SIDE PANELS AND SHELVES TO FINAL POSITIONS OF ASSEMBLY WHEREIN ONE LONGITUDINAL SIDE EDGE OF EACH SLOT ENGAGES IN THE GROOVE OF THE ADJACENT MOUNTING TONGUE AND SAID RESILIENT ELEMENTS ARE DISPOSED IN THE PLANE OF THEIR RESPECTIVE SIDE PANEL. 